Device for sharpening writing instruments



March 10;.1959 1'. R. SMITH EIAL DEVICEFOR SHARPENING WRITING INSTRUMENTS Filed April 5, 1955 26a INVENTORS Thomas E. $071 WzZZiarn Jamaeso/z Albert E. Meyer's ATTORNEYS United St Patent;

DEVICE FOR SHARPENING WRITING INSTRUMENTS Thomas R. Smith and William Jamieson, Stratford, and Albert E. Meyers, Trumbull, Conn.

Application April 5, 1955, Serial No. 499,364

2. Claims. (Cl. 120-90) This invention relates to an article of manufacture and more specifically to an improved device for providing a sharpened point on a pencil or the like writing implement.

Heretofore, efforts have been made to provide a sharpening device for pencils, or the like implements, which would eliminate the flat sanding boards with their obvious disadvantages. These have taken the form of woven wire screens suspended over an opening. The difficulty with these devices, however, resides in the fact that since they rely solely upon the undulations of the wire in the mesh to provide cutting surfaces, they are limited in their operation; and, furthermore, being of wire tend to deform when pressure is applied thereto during the sharpening operation which results in uneven and irregular points.

The present invention overcomes these difiiculties by providing a novel construction wherein variations in the .abrading surfaces can be readily obtained and wherein the abrading surface is rigidly supported so that accurate points can be obtained.

. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a sharpened for shaping a point of a writing implement, e. g. a pencil, by frictional engagement thereof. Accordingly the sharpener of the present invention has a novel substantially fiat abrading member having abrading grits thereon suported on a container in such a manner that the novel abrading member is rendered readily removable and/or interchangeable with another member having grits of different coarseness so that a desired shape or type of point may be formed on the writing implement. In addition the abrading memberis porous to allow the abraded particles or filings to pass therethrough so that the filings are confined within the container to prevent them from scattering and soiling a piece of work or drawing in the vicinity of the sharpened when the implement is being sharpened.

A feature of this invention'resides in the provision of a novel abrading surface consisting of an open-weave fabric material which is relatively stiff and which has bonded thereto minute particles of abrasive material that consist of an equal distribution of abrading or filing edges in all directions thereon, and which surface prevents the accumulation of dust and filings thereon.

Another feature of this invention resides in the provision of removably supporting a novel abrading surface on a container so that said surface can be readily interchanged with other abrading surfaces of varying coarseness.

Another feature of this invention resides in providing a novel supporting means for the abrading member so as to maintain the member in a substantially flat relationship thereto as the pencil, or other like writing implement, is rubbed thereover so that a flat chisel edge as well as a conical point can be shaped on the point of the writing implement.

Other features and advantages will be apparent from ing and certain types of art work.

2,876,741 Patented Mar. 10, 1959 Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2--2 of i Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the sharpener taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is atop view of a modified form of the improved sharpener.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 55 of Fig.4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Fig.4.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view of the novel abrading surface.

Figs. 8 and 9 are perspective views of a writing implement showing two differently shaped points possible with this sharpener. 3

While the sharpener according to this invention may be fabricated as an attachment or made integral with a supporting surface such as a table, desk, and the like, or may be combined with a desk pad, pencil holder, and the like, it is herein illustrated as a readily portable independent unit.

Further, while the invention herein disclosed may take any desired shape, it is herein illustrated as consisting of a substantially rectangular box-like enclosure or container 10 comprising a bottom wall 11, a front wall 12, a rear wall 13 and a pair of side walls 14, said walls having inturned flanges 15 to circumscribe a top opening 16 and which support across the open top thereof a novel abrading surface 17 in substantially flat relationship thereto so that the writing implement P herein illustrated as a pencil having a core or lead, which by frictional engagement therewith may be formed with either a flat chisel-like edge a as shown in Fig. 8, or with a conical point b as shown in Fig. 9.

According to this invention the abrading member is preferably a loosely-woven or open-mesh cloth or fabriclike material 18 impregnated with a resin, or other like stiffening means, and having bonded thereto, so as to extend over the surface thereof, minute particles of abrasive material 18a providing cutting or filing edges which are equally distributed in all directions thereon; Further, the particles 18a adhere to the strandslsb of the mesh fabric and do not close the apertures 19 in the mesh so that the abraded particles or filings can drop therethrough. The equal distribution of the cutting edges of the abrasive particles 18a is particularly desirable for finely sharpening a core of a pencil P as used for draft- It will be further understood that any suitable size of abrading particles may be bonded to the open-mesh fabric material so that abrading surfaces may be formed with varying degrees of coarsenes. Therefore, according to this invention the user has available a number of dilferent types of abrading surfaces which may vary from very coarse to very fine so that he can shape the core of his pencil to a desired degree of fineness.

Another important aspect of the invention resides in the provision of a supporting means 20 underlying the abrading member 17 to prevent the usual pressure re quired to sharpen the point from sagging or distorting the abrading member so that a fiat chisel-like edge. may be formed, if desired. While this may take many forms, in the herein illustrated form of the invention it comprises a rigid grid of cross members 20a which is carried by a seat 21 recessed on the inturned flanges 15 of the frame and extends under the entire surface to cover the opening in the top of the enclosure.

As will be seen from the drawings, it is at present preferred to form the supporting member with substantial spacing between the cross members 20a thereof so that they will not interfere with the abraded material dropping into the enclosure. With the abrading member 17 so supporting, it will be apparent that the member cannot sag or distort and that sharp, flat points can be easily and readily obtained.

As has been noted above, the abrading member can be provided with abrading particles having varying degrees of coarseness. Therefore, the feature of the invention is to provide a means whereby the abrading members can be readily interchanged or replaced so as to make the desired coarseness available for use. This is accomplished, according to the present invention, by providing means for removably supporting the abrading member on the frame or container so that it can be removed or replaced by a simple operation.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the upper portions of the front 12, rear 13, and side walls 14 are provided with an inturned flange portion 15 which circumscribes an opening 16 in the top of the frame. If desired the upper half of the front wall 12a can be inclined to provide a clearance for the fingers of the user and the body of the pencil as it is being sharpened. A U-shaped frame member 22 having the base portion 23 thereof inclined in accordance with the slope of the front wall 12a is fixed to the inturned flange portion 15 of the front 12 and side walls 14 as shown in Fig. l by any suitable fastening means 24 such as rivets or the like. As best seen in Fig. 2, the U-shaped frame member has a raised portion 22a which is spaced above the flange portions 15 to form therewith a channelway of guideway 25 for receiving the abrasive coated fabric-like material 17. Thus, as seen in Fig. 3, the abrading surface 17 is readily removable by merely sliding the surface rearwardly so that any other desired degree of abrading surface may be inserted in the channelway.

In the modified form illustrated in Figs. 4 to 6, the abrading surface is removably secured to the container by means of a clamping frame 26. In this embodiment walls of the enclosure have inturned flange portions 15a which are provided with a collar 15b formed integral therewith adjacent the inner marginal portions. The clamping frame 26 includes a rectangular shaped member having a depending flange portion 26a along the rear and sides thereof which circumscribes the collar 15b, the horizontal portion 26b of the clamp bearing against the abrading surface 17 supported on the collar to secure it in place. As shown, the front portion of the clamp is not provided with a depending flange so that the clamp may be readily moved rearwardly as will hereinafter be described.

In order to removably support the clamp on the container, the side portions of the clamp are provided with a key-shaped aperture 27 for receiving a thumb screw 28 to secure the clamp 26. Therefore, to remove the abrading surface, it is only necessary to loosen the thumb screws 28 and to slide the clamp member rearwardly to align the enlarged portion 27a of the key slot 27 with the head of the screw. This alignment permits the clamp 26 to be raised vertically and removed therefrom, allowing the abrading surface 17 to be interchanged. It will be further noted that the clamp 26 and U-frame 22 form stops on either sides of the abrasive area so as to limit the sweep of the pencil.

According to this invention, after the sharpening member having the desired coarseness is secured in position, the core of a pencil a or b may be readily sharpened to any desired form simply by frictionally engaging the core with the abrading surface. A flat reciprocating movement of the lead or core of a pencil across the top of the abrading surface will shape the core with a flat chisel-like edge a. If a conical point b is desired, the core of the pencil may be rotated at it is reciprocated across the surface of the sharpener. Because of the open weave of the abrading surface, the dust and filings of the core pass through the open mesh and are confined within may be used without others.

We claim:

1. A device for sharpening a writing implement comprising in front wall, rear wall and side walls connected together to form an enclosure, said walls being provided with inturned flange portions to form an opening, a-irigid grid supported on said flanges, a U-shaped guide member fixed adjacent the inner edge portion of the flanges on three sides of said opening, said member being spaced at its inner edge from said flanges to form therewith a guideway, an abrasive coated fabric slidably mountedin said guideway overlying said grid and supported thereby, said fabric being adapted to extend between the said Walls to form an abrasive surface therefor consisting or, many minute particles to increase the effective cutting surface per unit area of fabric, and said fabric material being loosely woven to provide an open mesh so that the abraded particles fall therethrough and are confined within the enclosure to prevent said abraded particles from scattering as a pencil is being sharpened.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said front wall has an inwardly inclined upper portion to which a portion of said U-shaped guide member is secured and over which said fabric extends, the inclined wall portion providing clearance for the fingers of the user when sharpening a pencil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 575,947 Hart Ian. 26, 1897 876,204 Lindeman, Jan. 7, 1908 1,633,700 Hawkins June 28, 1927 2,123,581 Anderson July 12, 1938' 2,288,002 Kingman June 30, 1942 2,328,998 Radford Sept. 7, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 279,836 Switzerland Dec. 15, 1951 

